About

me, visiting our family nursery Michler's in Lexington
(photo by Katy Walker)

nearly all of us fit on the porch swing
(photo by Katy Walker)

kids out in our historic neighborhood

I grew up with a love of history and old things. My father was an avid reader of history books and historical biographies. My mom was always a collector of antiques and vintage goods. She grew up in the South, her family still owning the oldest nursery in Lexington, Ky. Although we moved away from Kentucky when I was little we would visit every summer and the history of the place always fascinated me. Growing up in California exposed me to a different sense of history. We lived briefly near San Fransisco and then moved to Southern California, where most of the homes I was exposed to were much newer. My first distinct memory of becoming aware of the architecture of an old home was actually living in California and visiting a friend's house. It was an older, traditional style Spanish house. It also had built in wardrobes, with the old wooden cabinets and drawers that slid out of the wall. I was amazed! I remember thinking very clearly that there was something special and lasting about old homes and I was hooked! After college I was determined to move to an old city full of this type of architecture, and chose to attend Grad School at NYU. I ended up living there for over a decade, my husband and I living in a series of apartments in all types of very old buildings and houses. We were exposed to a very different sense of history and architecture than either of us had experienced in California or the South. One of my favorite activities was walking the streets of Brooklyn at night, and catching glimpses inside the lit up brownstones, wishing I could explore every nook and cranny inside. We tried to buy a piece of this history ourselves and had a great desire to renovate one of these old houses. Unfortunately, everyone else wants that too! We maintained a connection to the South, though, as both our families ended up living there again. We were married in an old house turned inn in Asheville, North Carolina. My mother worked in a historic home in Lexington. When an opportunity came up to move to Atlanta, where my husband's family lived, we took it. That is how we came to realize our dream of living in and renovating an old home. I've never lived in Atlanta before so it is has been quite an experience learning about its own unique history, culture, and architecture. We live in the historic neighborhood of Grant Park, surrounded by these lovely homes. I hope you will enjoy learning along with me, follow our restoration journey, learn about my family and life in this old farm house (including dogs, chickens, ducks, and bees)! Thanks for visiting.

Please feel free to contact me with questions or suggestions!

Thanks,

Cary

cary@littleloveblue.com

A little personal note about me: I have a degree in Women's Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.A. in Film Theory (with a focus on feminist film theory) from New York University. I have a love of researching history that has partly inspired my research into my home and the neighborhood. I'm enjoying getting back to that, but please don't expect perfection! Please feel free to pint out any inaccuracies or to point me in a direction I may have missed!